FILE - This Sept. 21, 2013 file photo shows Bruno Mars performing at IHeartRadio Music Festival in Las Vegas, Nev. Mars' "Count on Me," is part of a collection of 39 hits for "Songs of the Philippines," available on iTunes to raise money for disaster relief efforts in the Philippines. (Photo by Al Powers/Powers Imagery/Invision /AP, File) ORG XMIT: NYET134

FILE - In this Feb. 20, 2013 file photo, Justin Timberlake performs on stage during the BRIT Awards 2013 at the o2 Arena in London. Timberlake will hit the road with Jay-Z for the AALegends of the Summer Stadium TourAA from July 17 in Toronto to Aug. 16 in Miami. Timberlake will kick off his own tour, AAThe 20/20 Experience World Tour,AA on Oct. 31 in Montreal. It wraps Feb. 10 in Omaha, Neb. (Photo by John Marshall/Invision/AP, File)

For our Capital Region Q&A feature, once a month we ask local notables a few questions about the area we call home. Today's subject is Bob Belber, general manager of the Times Union Center in Albany, where he has worked for 20 years. Belber, 56, lives in Rotterdam with his wife, Bobbie. He has five children — three sons and two daughters, ages 14 to 33. Answers have been minimally edited for space and clarity.

Q: When Capital Region residents talk about summer concerts, they're usually thinking about outdoor venues, but the three biggest names coming to town this summer — Paul McCartney, Justin Timberlake and Bruno Mars — are all at the Times Union Center, and they're all scheduled within 15 days of one another this month. How did that happen?

A: That happened over a long period of time. Timberlake went on sale in November for a July 16 show, and I have to give credit to the promoter, Live Nation, for taking a chance with a ticket price in the $189 category. For a secondary market like Albany, there's always a concern whether a higher ticket is going to sell, and I'm happily in a position where Albany and the Capital Region really stepped up; the show sold out very quickly. This showed the industry Albany's ability to sell tickets was there. Right after that we confirmed Bruno Mars, and his tickets went on sale the day after his appearance on the Super Bowl, which helped him sell out relatively quickly.

Q: I heard a story about you booking the McCartney show while you were watching him on TV, performing live on the Grammys.

A: I was sitting on my couch at home during the Grammys, and I got a text from McCartney's business manager/ promoter asking me about whether I had a certain date open. We had quite a bit of dialogue about it, and my daughter said, 'What are you doing?' I said, 'See that guy there on TV? I'm communicating with his manager about doing a concert in Albany.' "

Q: What sort of factors go into landing a tour at the TU Center instead of it going to the Saratoga Performing Arts Center? All three of this month's shows seem likely to have sold out SPAC, meaning the income from an additional 10,000 tickets sold over what the arena can hold.

A: In the case of these three, they were arena shows. The productions they were carrying — 19 tractors-trailers' worth, in McCartney's case — would never fit into SPAC. You'd never be able to hang that massive amount of weight above an amphitheater stage; there's just not enough steel up there, so it has to be in a stadium or arena. There are peaks and valleys: Some years a lot of big production will come out in the summer, or, some like last year, there were very few summer tours playing indoors.

Q: Your staff obviously gets technical specifications from a tour beforehand, so you'll know everything from whether the show will even fit in the arena to what sort of rigging is required and how much parking you'll need for semis and buses. But how much do you know beforehand about what will go on during a particular show?

A: We know what all of their production requirements are, but as far as their song selections and what will happen on stage, that's entirely something that the artist decides, and sometimes that doesn't happen until just before showtime or even during the show.

Q: So can you tell us anything juicy about the Justin Timberlake or Bruno Mars shows?

A: What's your version of juicy? I will tell you that, in my opinion, the Bruno Mars show on July 20 is going to be one of the best shows of the year. He's the one show that I want to see personally, more than any other except McCartney. I've been following Bruno Mars for the last three years, watching videos of his new productions, and I'm extremely impressed. Everything that you seen on the stage, everything that happens, is decided on by him. There are going to be some amazing special effects.

Q: How about the bar exam? Anything juicy about hosting the New York state bar exam for two big dates, on July 29 and 30?

A: You're killing me.

Q: As a multipurpose, general-use facility owned by the county, you host car show, home shows, basketball and hockey games, the Ringling Bros. circus and Cirque du Soleil, motocross, monster trucks, the Ice Capades and the bar exam. What challenges do you face that a music or theater venue doesn't?

A: I think our biggest challenge is making sure we can not only bring in those big concerts and trade shows, but still present a full AHL hockey season with the Albany Devils and a full Siena basketball season. We've also got the MAAC tournament for the next three years, the NCAA women's Division 1 regional tournament in March, Division 1 hockey in 2016, and we're bidding right now on NCAA men's basketball, hoping to get 2016, '17 or '18. We're looking years out.

Q: Last week's McCartney concert got international news coverage because it was his return to the stage after being sidelined for a couple of months by a virus, and it was the first night of resuming his tour. Besides local media, national magazines like Rolling Stone sent a writer and a photographer, as did the Associated Press, and major network news organizations did TV reports on Sunday and Monday. Is such coverage simply good for local pride, or is there a tangible benefit for the arena or the Capital Region?

A: That kind of coverage has tangible benefit: It puts us on the map nationally and even internationally, much the same as an NCAA basketball event does with an ESPN broadcast. It shows the agents and managers of artists that we have the ability to bring in wold-class shows and sell them out. Because the costs of bringing a show into Albany are less than in a major market like Boston, New York or Philadelphia — rent is cheaper, contracts with union are less expensive — it allows them to earn net proceeds as much or more than they would in a primary market. At the end of the day, while we may not be perceived as a primary market, the amount of money an artist can pull out of our market is as good. That makes my job easier to book the next artist.

Q: You've been involved in the concert business locally for almost 30 years, from the Coliseum/Starlite in Latham in the mid-'80s to marketing director at the then-Knickerbocker Arena in the early '90s and its general manager since 1995. What has changed most about the Capital Region concert scene over the years? Or has it all changed so much that it's easier to ask whether there's anything that's the same?

A: The basic principle of providing outstanding customer service to the artist and the concertgoer is the same. This isn't just about whether there are bowls of blue M&Ms in the dressing rooms. It's about having every single detail handled for the artist. They may not remember all the good times, but they will remember the bad times, and that word-of-mouth hurts. If all the word-of-mouth out there about playing a show in Albany is positive, that gets around.